In an effort to make the beaver leave the pond at Paul Lindsay Park in Stittsville, the City of Ottawa has obliterated their home and is continuing to remove any new efforts by the beaver to rebuild a new lodge. Two very young kits, ousted from their home too early, have survived with Lily, but her mate Lucky has not been seen. The beaver cannot relocate because the drought has caused all of the waterways around the pond to dry up, even the Poole Creek Wetlands near by. These baby beaver cannot survive on their own. Lily has tried to rebuild a new home all alone, and if the City keeps callously destroying it, the kits could die. There is no risk of flooding at this pond, the beaver are not causing any trouble. Enough is enough, the City MUST stop harassing and endangering these beaver!
Here is Lily, asleep with one of her kits, on the bank of the pond at 8 am. She and her babies are homeless.
Watch a video of Lily and one of her kits.

This short video was taken just hours after Lily and Lucky's lodge was destroyed by City of Otttawa workers. They have not continued to rebuild their home. It could be that their kits were killed. We are monitoring the beaver, and only Lily has been spotted since.

City workers destroy Lily and Lucky's lodge

On Friday, June 29th, City of Ottawa workers destroyed Lily and Lucky's home. The beaver were not taking down trees or blocking the culverts. They were not doing anything wrong. There might have been baby beaver (I was told that someone saw two about two weeks ago), and if so, they were probably killed. Only one beaver has been seen, desperately trying to rebuild their lodge. This is an outrage and unnecessary. The beaver cannot leave the pond because the water levels are too low, so they are stuck there, in danger from cruel and nasty neighbours who want them dead. Please call Mayor Watson's office and explain how unnecessary this was, how cruel. And, very important, ask "Where is the humane Wildlife Strategy that you PROMISED last year when these beaver were saved from being trapped and killed after a huge public outcry!" Call 613-580-2496, Email is Jim.Watson@ottawa.ca

Read this excellent blog by Heidi Perryman of the Martinez beaver for more information and background details. Here is a photo of Lily yesterday, trying to rebuild her home.

Beaver trapping in Ottawa's Greenbelt - a conservation area

So, here we have trapping along Hunt Club Road, near Moodie Drive, in the conservation area, the Greenbelt of Ottawa. If beaver are not allowed in city streams and storm water ponds, and not allowed in conservation areas, where are they supposed to go? Obviously to beaver heaven, courtesy of the NCC (National Capital Commission) and City of Ottawa. 

This would be the perfect place to install a flow device and culvert protector because the culvert runs under Hunt Club Road. Why can the city of Cornwall listen to their residents who want to protect their city beaver, while our pleas fall on deaf ears? Why is Ottawa, the nation's capital, so full of old-fashioned, cold-hearted sour pusses, who would rather brutally kill our beaver than consider using cost-effective, long term and humane solutions?

More beaver killing in Ottawa - "Beavergate"

In the first week of February, two beaver at Hog's Back, in the Rideau Canal, were trapped and killed, using snares. The NCC and Parks Canada were responsible. They still maintain that the traps were live traps, not snares. However, the woman who spoke to the trapper and took photos of the traps confirmed that they are snares. The trapper admitted that he changed his mind about using live traps because there were too many people and dogs around. ??? And, someone from the Ministry of Natural Resources later confirmed the trap was a snare. Yet, according to the MNR, snares are illegal in Ottawa. Plus, everyone knows you can't live trap and relocate beaver in the winter or they'll die. This is all such a farce. An Access to Information has been filed with the NCC, requesting all correspondence between the NCC and Parks Canada regarding the trapping of these two beaver. The beaver were allegedly chewing on the canal wall (beaver don't just chew old dead wood for kicks) and taking down trees on people's property. They were not doing either of these things. The trees they had taken down were in the buffer zone along the canal. These were all excuses to exterminate the beaver. The NCC just couldn't be bothered to take any time or make any effort to change their antiquated ways and do things humanely. Here is the Metro News B-S article. A journalist with the CBC is looking into this...maybe we'll see a follow up article, and gee, maybe the truth will be told. Oh what tangled webs we weave....

A Lily and Lucky update on the Martinez Beaver website!

Heidi Perryman of the Martinez Beaver kindly requested a follow-up blog to Lily and Lucky's story which she posted yesterday. The blog is not all that positive, as the City has not notified any of us about the status of the Wildlife Strategy, and things are still status quo when it comes to trapping and killing beaver. Click here to read about these concerns and others.

Do you know what an 'umwelt' is? I thought so...

You can find out what an umwelt is if you read this interesting article "Beavers, Salmon, Umwelts, and the Preservation of all Three." Plus, there's a cutie pie beaver photo :)

A wonderful article about the importance of beaver with great photos too!

Chris Mclaughlin is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Composting, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables, and the upcoming Complete Idiots Guide to Small Space Gardening, and Hobby Farms: Rabbits: Small Scale Rabbit Keeping. She has written a post "Beavers as Master Builders of Wildlife Habitats" that is echoing recent voices that commend the beaver for their positive and crucial role in our environment. Let's hope these voices finally convince our city officials that beaver here and elsewhere are worth protecting!

National Geographic Video for "Live Like Animals"

Click here to watch the short preview for how some men are going to attempt to build a beaver dam. Ha hahaha!

Top Ten Beaver articles from 2011

On the Martinez Beaver website, Heidi Perryman posted the top ten articles about beaver from 2011. Most of them have to do with the fact that beaver are extremely important for the environment. I'm hoping that 2012 will bring more awareness about this keystone species and that the massive killing of these animals will be halted.